Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

What does the thermometer probe here represent in the real JWST?
In this link
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... eityourown
in the first idea for a variation it says:
Try different probe coatings. Which probe coating(s) maximize the detection ability of the apparatus?

what is the probe here and what detection ability are we talking about?

Hello sumsum509,

I suspect that several thermometer probes are on the real JWST for various purposes. But the thermometer in this project is used to test the heat shield effectiveness.

The “make it your own” section suggests trying different coatings on the thermometer probe to change the probe’s ability to detect temperature. One of the steps in the “procedure” section suggests putting a dark colored coating on the thermometer probe to improve temperature detection. So other variations might be no coating, light colored coating, black coating, etc.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman